As the old saying goes, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” If that’s true, Mary Janice Davidson should not only be flattered by Harper’s series but also a little alarmed because Harper does funny, accident-prone vampire heroines better than Davidson does.

Book 4 of the Jane Jameson series finds the endearing former librarian, now bookstore owner and vampire Jane finally agreeing to marry hunky vampire Gabriel Nightengale, to the approval of everyone, including her human mother, her ghost Aunt Jetty and her ghostly beau Gilbert, and friends Andrea and Dick.

Her happiness is curtailed when local teenage heartthrob, Jamie Lanier, is hit by a car and left to die outside her shop. When he begs to be turned into a vampire, reluctantly Jane gives him her blood. Now, however, the Lanier clan is up in arms against her since their sweet boy has become a nasty vampire.

Ophelia, the local head vampire, is also angry since Jane’s impetuous act is so in keeping with her penchant to getting into unauthorized trouble. Or as Jane puts it, she’s been “beaten, bled, concussed, and repeatedly electrocuted,” none of which has ever made Ophelia the least bit sympathetic. So why should Jane’s latest faux pas make Ophelia like her any better?

As Jane makes wedding plans and mentors the changing Jamie, she’s also beset by her bitter grandmother who dies and begins to haunt the ancestral home where Jane, Gabriel, the ghosts, and now Jamie live.

Worst of all, Gabriel is shot with a poisoned arrow, and no one knows if he was the intended victim or if the hit-and-run driver and the archer were actually aiming for Jane. Jane, in her true plucky spirit, she doesn’t care. She just knows the death threats have to stop now.

The beauty of Harper’s menagerie of characters is how down-to-earth (snicker!) they all are. Jane is never obnoxiously snarky, and Gabriel is the dream companion, content to watch over Jane in a loving and enabling way. Jamie is a good-looking athletic teen who’s excited about having super powers, while bemoaning the facts that he won’t get to play high school sports (but he’d be really good if he did) or get to go to the prom.

Among the really unlikeable characters, the worst is Jane’s grandmother whose petty meanness isn’t totally explained, but whose self-serving personality is skillfully used against her in an effort to oust her from the house.

Harper’s addition at the beginning of each chapter of snippets from A Beginner’s Guide to Raising Newborn Vampires is annoying, but, fortunately, easily skipped. However, the huge recaps of the story to date aren’t as easy to overlook and spoil the previous books for readers who haven’t read them.

For pure paranormal fun, the Jane Jameson series is perfect for readers who like things that go bump in the night mixed with laugh out loud humor.